In this episode, guest Christy Thornton discusses the surprising influence of post-revolutionary Mexico on some of the twentieth century’s most important international economic institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Triangulating between archives in Mexico, the United States, and Great Britain, Thornton traces how Mexican officials repeatedly led the charge among Third World nations campaigning for greater representation within and redistribution through multilateral institutions created to promote international development and finance. In doing so, she recovers the crucial role played by Mexican economists, diplomats, and politicians in shaping global economic governance and U.S. hegemony during the mid-twentieth century.

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Christy Thornton is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Program in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies at The Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Revolution in Development: Mexico and the Governance of the Global Economy (University of California Press, 2021). She is a co-editor of The Development Imperative: Toward a People-Centered Approach (Social Science Research Council, 2005 and Real World Latin America: A Contemporary Economics and Social Policy Reader (Dollars & Sense, 2009). Prior to getting her Ph.D., Thornton served for five years as the Executive Director of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), a 50-year-old research and advocacy organization.